In recent investigations, it is reported that glass sputtered with ceramic thin film is functionally used as magnetic/electronic device materials [1-3] as well as optical ones. In functional usages and/or mechanical applications of coated glass materials, the information on strength of such materials is also required to guarantee the integrity during service. In this study, strength properties of a borosilicate glass coated with alumina, silicon carbide, or titanium nitride were experimentally investigated to clarify the difference in the properties attributed to material kinds of ceramic coating. A radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method was adopted in producing thin ceramic films on glass. Coated glass materials were prepared by changing a combination of RF output power and film thickness for each ceramic coating material. Roughness and hardness of coating ceramic film are recognized to be important factors for tribological usage. So, roughness and hardness were also measured as surface properties which may affect the strength of coated materials. Since tensile tests of brittle glass or ceramic materials are very difficult to be performed in adequate evaluation of their strength characteristics, bending tests of the glass coated under several conditions were conducted instead of tensile tests in this work. The dependencies of strength properties of coated materials on the thickness of ceramic film and on the RF output power were also investigated to clarify a suitable sputtering condition. Finally, a new procedure to estimate the strength of coated glass was proposed by using the surface properties of coating film as well as sputtering time, and its applicability was discussed in comparison with experimental results.
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